Deck the Halls with Boughs of Drowsy

Sleeping dog, sleeping Lark, sleeping chestnut tree.

I am sleepy, too.  This morning I woke with the whole day stretched in front of me, and all I want to do is sleep.  I have eight Christmas presents I need to make before tomorrow night, though.  How is this going to happen? 

Send in the elves*, please.

To help you avoid your Christmas gift making, here are snapshots from the last week and a half, excepting (most of) those my children took and leaving off all the pictures I took of things I intended to sell on Ebay over the weekend, but never did.

(*Any size will do, as long as they're handy.)

Because My Children Are Inside of Them

Millie asked me to take these for her Ravelry account.  Annika wears her Christmas present from Millie before Christmas (rule-breaker!).

And here, Skylark breaks the rules by taking advantage of Keziah's naptime to steal her hat.

Twinsies

Because I always have excuses, my excuse for not starting Christmas presents for the first part of this week was that we had welcome company!  Bryan, Sarah, Elijah, and their new baby Keziah stopped in for a few days so the newborn cousins who were born two weeks apart could become acquainted.

These two are already acquainted...

I only got one picture of Keziah wearing the hat Millie finished for her, but she's so sweet I wish I had taken more.

And now, for the first time ever, may I introduce the smash hit Grumpy Babies Getting Pictures Taken. Oh, my goodness.  This is making me laugh.

They warmed up for a few seconds, though the bald old fellow on the right is still making me grin.

And these two?  Old pros by now.

Sarah took some wonderful pictures of everyone sledding together, and I hope her version of this moment is less blurry and more smiley, but here's what I have--- cousins all smushed together on the steps.

Knitwit

Millie has been knitting up a storm, and many of her projects never make it on here, but this is a current work-in-progress, included because the model is one we like to have around.

Second Snow

Our first snow a while back didn't last long, but last week brought real snowfall, though only a light coating at first.  Cadence used every excuse she could to scoot outside.  What?  Piper and Luci are dumping compost?  Surely they need my help.  (Someone needs to tell her that rubber boots aren't going to cut it this winter.)

Once we'd started the day's h'learning, I looked around for Zeke.  The fact that the snow hadn't really started coming down yet hadn't stopped him from building the first snowman of the season.

I felt like Bil Keane.

And the ever-well-meaning shepherd got in on the act, too.  Apparently, he'd gone out in the middle of the night to shovel our steps for us before getting accidentally shut out.

Oops.

No Such Thing As Seasonal

While the girls spent their time skiing, sledding, and skateboarding* down the hill, Zeke selflessly regraded the driveway for us.

* They use some of John's old skateboards as snowboards, with the wheels removed, of course.

St. Lucia

It's only our second year in, and we're already turning renegade.  Since our family contains seven girls, we've decided to alter the tradition of "oldest daughter Lucia" and take turns from oldest to yougest (or maybe with Millie playing the role of Lucia every other year).  Also, since-- alas-- we had no expensive saffron threads this year, we settled for imitation lussekatter, which were just regular cinnamon buns, rolled differently and with the addition of two raisins apiece.

 Here is Annika, my fake oldest daughter, working diligently while everyone sleeps upstairs.

I had to make a new crown, and Annika tested it out before we went outside to cut pine branches to add on top. 

Fresh rolls, right before bed, wait to be reheated the next morning, and I have NO IDEA why one is missing.

 After a short night's sleep, here is the most recent incarnation of Lucia, ready to serve.

 Aidan's reaction when he awoke made us both laugh.

Zeke was a harder sell.

Cadence took some coaxing, too, but only because it was early and extremely cold that morning.  Blankets almost won out over rolls and hot coffee, can you imagine?

 

 Our Little Fire wearing fire.  Shhh.  No one tell him that he'll never get to play St. Lucia. 

Girl Genius

As soon as my children are able, they dress themselves.  

Maybe she's not quite able yet...

For Deirdre

I took this picture upon discovering she'd stolen some of Mildred's gum again, a few days after setting her own hair on fire.  (Not much or for long, thank goodness, and you can barely see the tiny scabs on her forehead. I guess she wanted bangs...)

Good Intentions, All Timely and Suchlike

Two weeks ago, after ignoring my children in every spare moment for three straight days, all in order to catch up on three months of electronic snapshot archival, I was ready to call it quits and shut down shotsnaps...again.

To offset my grumbling, Mildred suggested that I put up a blog post every week.  I've thought of this before, indeed, among other handy ideas I've never implemented for more than a week at a time.  On Saturday, I meant to take her up on the suggestion, but instead I returned to my week's work, a.k.a. the Basement of Doom, to- thank heavens!- reveal a floor and finish ordering two year's worth of neglect.

Anyway, Mildred's suggestion, along with the overwhelmingly positive response of the universe to my last 45 blog posts (Thanks for the comment, Dierdre Deirdre!  Heidi, you also win a prize.) was enough to convince me that one way in which I can improve the world is to offer more snapshots.

So here-- excepting the brilliant and numerous photos my children take- is the last week and a half's worth of snapshots with minimal commentary because lunch break's over.